Monday, February 20, 2006

The Village (Idiot's) Voice

Rumor has it that the Milwaukee Catholic Herald has been recieving a lot of positive comment from His Excellency lately. This comes along with news that the birdcage liner will soon be going through a makeover in hopes of increasing its very sad circulation. It is said that is will be more of a teaching tool, more pastoral.

While only a rumor, this latter point begs two questions: 1) If not teaching the doctrine of the Catholic Church within its pages...what has it been doing all these years? 2) How can the Catholic Herald, already conceding it is not doctrinal, be anymore "pastoral" than it already is?

OK, we all know what the Catholic Herald has been. Fluff and drivel. But what are we to think about what it might become after the changes come.

The Archbishop seems on board.The last executive editor, Fr. Tom Brundage was canned.A new man was brought in, and has been on the job, on one way or another for about a year.So, what can we glean....

Well, on the good side: George Weigel was added.Word from the North Shore is that Fr. Al Jerkus of St. Monica's told his parish council that the paper was getting too conservative and traditional.

On the negative side:Bishop Sklba has more columns than he did under the previous regime.Fr. Joe Juknialis' pantheistic "scripture reflections" are still there.

So, we are still neutral. Or, so it seems.

Last weekend, I picked up one of the free copies for the local rag in the back of a Church to pass some time after some adoration, and before the kids finished a sporting event. It was the February 16th issue, eventually, I got to page 9. Low and behold, there, in the lower right corner...an ad for the Voice of the Faithful. The event will held at the infamously contrarian St. Matthias Parish, likely with the aggreement (read as arrangement and encouragement) of its equally infamous pastor/CEO/chief therapist/head dissenter, Fr. David Cooper.

I guess the people who sell advertising at the Catholic Herald have not gotten the Archbishop's message about publishing things contrary to Church doctrine. What next...an ad for Planned Parenthood?

But, let me give the advertising staff the benefit of the doubt. Maybe the new editor did not share the memo from the Archbishop with them. Maybe, the Archbishop's staff "forgot" to send out the memo. Maybe, most sadly, the Archbishop has never sent out a memo about Voice of the Faithful. The dissent group can use space that could be better devoted to the needs of the Church, whether in the Archdiocesan newspaper, or in one of the Archdiocese's parishes.

Thursday, February 16, 2006

Sowing seeds for a new generation of discontent.

You may not have heard, but the first list of parishes that are going to get new priests is out. I can only imagine that there will be some Catholics suprised by the fact that their pastor has not announced his pending departure. I will post the list that that was forwarded to me at the bottom of this posting.

What is notable is the continuation of my theory about Archbishop Dolan. Sadly, he is not showing much initiative (read as backbone) in moving ahead with a plan for stronger and more orthodox parishes. Instead, he let's the holdovers from the previous era undermine what many of us had hoped he might seek to accomplish.

What is the telling sign this week: What pastors are going to be given the role of mentoring the five young men to be ordained this spring? Only three associate positions have been announced so far. There is one thing called a "team member" in Fon du Lac, so that might be a fourth. (So, which of the five young men is going to be skipped over for ordination? Probably because he is too orthodox.) Well, here are the three listed so far....

St. Matthias, Milwaukee -- Fr. David Cooper (Yes, already infamous, Voice of the Faithful, Alliance of Priests, Women's Ordination David Cooper...that David Cooper. This would also be a supposedly Catholic parish which, on it's web page for "About Us - Who We Are", the words Eucharist, Jesus, and Christ never appear anywhere. )

St. James, Menomonee Falls -- Fr. Arthur Heinz (Formerly the director all that is therapeutic pyschobabble at St. Francis Seminary. His present parish is sponsoring a lenten reflection series by a nun who is a self proclaimed "spiritual midwife." What can you say about a parish where the directory gives precedence to the lead custodian over the the pastor.)

Sunday, February 12, 2006

Sorry for the delay....

Hi all. Sorry I have been quiet for a couple of weeks....well, if I have nothing worth saying, it is probably better to be quiet.

The new version of the Catholic Stewardship Appeal premiered today. Pretty much the same old, same old. But, at least it seems that the certified touch therapist of last year has not be kept on. I wonder who she touched the wrong way?

I was looking at the CSA annual poster in the back of my church. There is no version on the web. Next time you go to your parish and see the poster, ask yourself..."Is the nun in the second frame whipping me the bird?"

As for looking over this year's list of ministries supported...nothing has really changed at all. What else would we expect, bold change? LOL! I do have to ask, why are Catholic Charities and St. Francis Seminary included here, and each has their own develoment offices and fundraisers? Could it be that poor people and seminarians (as questionable as either diocesan ministry my be on occasion) make for easy fundraising. With those pictures up front, it is easy to get and divert money to the "Office for Women."

In closing, two not-so-rhetorical questions:

Which city of Waukesha pastor got arrested for drunk driving, for the second time, shortly after Christmas?Which priest, who works for Archbishop Dolan, in the same hall as his office, has been arrested for lewd behaviors in public?